If you are a key decision maker in an organization that is providing a care-based service, you know that the market is extremely competitive right now. The healthcare and especially the senior caregiving industry is growing every day as more baby boomers need home care and senior living solutions. Even with Caregiver wages on the rise and demand for their skill set, caregivers often find themselves needing to work overtime, working at multiple companies, not getting consistent hours, etc.. Because of this, many companies are having problems retaining their caregiving talent. This turnover could be costing you in direct and hidden costs.
One area that takes up a significant part of your budget is your cost of goods sold and other P&L items that go into producing a return. Understanding where these costs should be as a benchmark in your business cycle is significant in your planning and decision making.
It is tempting for management to find short term solutions such as reducing bonuses, not offering wage increases, increasing pricing too early etc and a host of other decisions that can affect longer-term sustainable growth and returns. Unfortunately, there are some hidden dangers when making short term decisions that equate to choosing profit over people and programs and its effect on your long term growth.
The Danger of Not Acting Fast or Acting too Quickly
Good talent is hard to find because those who are working in healthcare and especially in direct care, (medical and non-medical) takes a specific type of person with an immense amount of soft skills and dedication. As an employer, there are many ways to keep your business profits steady such as with improvements in conversions, business mix, training and development and your hiring velocity as a way to compete and get the talent you need. If you do not take your hiring process to the next level, you will lose out on top talent and miss new client acquisition opportunities.
The Danger of Not Making the Right Offer at the Right Time
At Sixth Sense Solutions, we always recommend our clients to come up with a plan and a unique combination of programs to attract and retain the right people. We also suggest additional benefits programs to attract talent and make your organization the employer of choice. However, this does not supplement the need to have flexibility with your talent management pool from job offers to your model match candidate base, programs to keep consistency with work assignments, career development plans and a host of other solutions. You don’t have to be the highest paying employer in a market, As an employer, you may need to prioritize this aspect in the budget to attract and keep the right talent. Offering a pathway to the things most important to the employees you attract can earn you the ROI you seek in the long run.
The Danger of Not Having a Career Path
Your best talent is being courted. We have seen the most successful programs are the ones that address the idea of a raise up front. When there is a clear pathway of expectations of performance; programs for growth and development in skills, and consistent feedback and reviews that established from the very beginning you are more likely to keep your top talent.
How to increase profit and prioritize people.
As strategic consultants, Sixth Sense Solutions specializes in uncovering perceptive solutions to get profitable results. We bring insight that guides operational and financial improvements and inspires innovation. We are currently offering a FREE Discovery Meeting and Strategy to begin to identify how to improve your organization. Learn about the offer here.
About the Author
Keith Freeman, MBA
A dynamic thinker with a great sense of humor, Keith Freeman, MBA, is a Strategic Consultant offering unique solutions to transform healthcare organizations such as hospitals, hospice/palliative, home health, and home care, RCFE/assisted living and skilled nursing facilities and professional healthcare staffing services that support them.